A Talk with Indigenous Leaders (Amazon and East Africa) on Ecocide (Environmental Destruction)
On Wednesday, November 20, THUAS will host Mauricio Yekuana, representing the Yekuana and Yanomami peoples of Brazil, and Magdalene Kaitei, leader of the Maasai community in Kenya, at our university. Both are visiting the Netherlands as part of the Impact Tour, organized by the French NGO Planète Amazone. This tour accompanies a film project by Gert-Peter Bruch aimed at raising awareness and inspiring young people to take action against ecocide.
During this event, we will screen the film Amazonia, Heart of Mother Earth. Following the screening, both leaders will share their experiences and discuss the impacts of environmental destruction on their communities. Afterward, there will be a Q&A session.
The session will be moderated by Szilvia Csevár, a lecturer in Public International Law, specializing in the detrimental effects of environmental destruction and its impact on indigenous women.
Program
| Time | Details |
|---|---|
| 14:00 - 14:30 | Arrival and check-in |
| 14:30 | Start of the program, introduction of indigenous leaders and the film producer |
| 14:45 | Film screening begins |
| 16:00 | Presentation by indigenous leaders, followed by panel discussion and Q&A |
| 17:00 | Program concludes |
Registration
Free entry! Please register in advance:
Mauricio Yekuana
A young Yekuana (or ‘Ye'kwana’) leader, he was born in the Fuduwaaduinha community in the Auaris region, on the banks of the river of the same name, in the north-west of the state of Roraima, in the Yanomami indigenous territory (TIY). Since 2008, he has been an active member of the Hutukara Associação Yanomami e Ye'kwana (HAY) association, whose mission is to defend the rights of the peoples living on Yanomami indigenous land. He is now director of this association and is the right-hand man of its president, Davi Kopenawa, a world-renowned leader. He holds a technical degree in land management from the Federal University of Roraima (UFRR). Mauricio carries out important work monitoring the boundaries of Yanomami indigenous land. He has also worked with the Yanomami and Ye'kwana Ethno-Environmental Protection Front (FPEYY-FUNAI), as part of joint operations between this organisation and the federal police to expel invaders from indigenous lands, in particular by combating illegal mining. He has established himself as an important political leader in his community and beyond, acting as a mediator between his world and the world of the whites, helping to strengthen the indigenous movement on the regional, national and international stage. He has taken part in numerous events organized by the United Nations to defend his people, and regularly travels around the world.
(Planète Amazone NGO, 2024)
Magdalene Setia Kaitei
Magdalene Setia Kaitei is a member of the Maasai people, a pastoralist community that brings together some 800,000 people in Kenya in the regions of Kajiado, Narok, Laikipia and Samburu. She is the Executive Director of the Emayian Integrated Development Organization, which fights for the improvement of the living conditions of the Maasai, for the protection of natural resources, forests, land grabbing and exploitation, and against climate change, in Kajiado County. Magdalene has worked with the Maasai community for fifteen years, from the perspective of issues related to development and social injustice. She is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Alliance of Guardians of Mother Nature.
(Planète Amazone NGO, 2024)
